I have to chuckle at the fact that the planners in this town are so worried about the tree canopy on the Bowen Place for the Kisiel subdivision permit that took 10 long years recently reported in The Valley Reporter. I am certain all of the planners involved never had visited the property before it grew up to brush.

My family owned the Bowen place for a good many years. My dad used to grow potatoes up there in what we referred to as the "North Meadow" with not a tree in sight. In fact my folks ran a school "barge" that the body still to this day sits on the northeast corner of the "North Meadow." Further south on the property was open pasture and good apple trees that produced many apples and also natural water springs and a nice brook. Also there was a house and barn on the property, the house did fall in but we did use the barn for milking cows for a short time. This area was open property and with beautiful views.

After we stopped growing potatoes up there, the property was used as a wide open pasture for my parent's livestock for summer grazing. In this whole area there never was much of a tree canopy to worry about except on the eastern heights of the property. There also used to be a camp on the southern edge of the property that was used by Mr. Ferris of Middlesex and also my family and friends during the summer months.

During the late '50s or early '60s the property was sold to some folks from Massachusetts. They never took care of the property and it grew up to brush. I commend the Kisiel family for hanging in there to be able to use their own property and shame on the town for forcing/jerking them around for 10 years before he could use it.

This town will never be as it was again. Most do not know how it was before the development moved in, but we just have to make the most of it.